Recently, a new symbol was proposed to represent the Fediverse. The network notoriously lacks an official symbol, although most people are familiar with the Fedigram, a five-point star made of connected lines. There have actually been a few different proposed symbols in the past, and we’ve compiled a list to talk about their differences and history.
Pre-History: Graph Diagrams
When it comes to talking about decentralized networks, it’s almost inevitable that diagrams of connected dots and lines appear. You may be familiar with this one in particular.
This is a diagram of different network topologies, and offers visual representations of centralized, decenteralized, and distributed networks. The image originated in Paul Baran’s 1962 essay On Distributed Communications Networks, which aimed to study methods of resiliency and redundancy in the face of network failures. This research constituted a larger body of work performed for his employer, the RAND Corporation, as a potential military defense in the face of global nuclear war.
While it doesn’t count as a logo itself, the visual motifs in this diagram were extremely influential, leading to many different open source, decentralized communication systems to adopt dots, lines, and dynamic mesh patterns in their designs.
The Federated Social Web Logo
This icon dates back to 2010, and was created for the Federated Social Web Summit, which was an effort by StatusNet to bring together developers, users, and advocates to talk about a path forward on building a shared network.
While the logo itself never really seemed to catch on, it’s an important piece of visual history, in the sense that a group using the network was attempting to represent itself as a collaborative movement.
The Federation’s Logo
Before many of the platforms adjacent to Diaspora adopted the ActivityPub protocol, their corner of the network called itself “The Federation”, and just used a variation of the Star Trek federation symbol.
Over time, this would prove to be a vague brand concept that didn’t really distinguish what the thing was, or who was a part of it. It was used to represent part of the Fediverse from 2012 to 2016.
The Fedigram
The Fedigram is probably the most widely-established symbol of the Fediverse up to this point. It’s a five-point star comprised of connected dots, and bears a passing resemblance to a pagan symbol. There’s a lot to like about it: it’s fun, a little rebellious, and conveys the core concept visually.
Due to Mastodon’s rising popularity in 2016 and 2017, many new people confused the network and Mastodon as being the same things. This icon was actually designed by two community members, Eudaimon and Dr Quadragon, who independently drew very similar concepts at the same time.
@liaizon Funny enough, it was a multiple invention.
We, I and @eudaimon, independently, without knowing about each other at all, made the same logo. Mine had different chirality though, and had couple of other details like UN-esque laurel wreath (because we’re federation :).
After we showed each other our results, we agreed that his version is simpler and more concise, and it will kinda be attributed to both of us.
As conversations started opening up about a need for the network to represent itself as a distinct thing, the Fedigram we know today was proposed, and ended up being an unofficial representation on the network’s Wikipedia page.
The Corporate Logo
For a variety of reasons, Meta came up with their own visual motif to represent the Fediverse. Their reasoning kind of makes sense: the network kind of has a weird name, the Fedigram looks vaguely like a pagan symbol, and a household name like Meta doesn’t want to freak people out.
Visually speaking, the result is a mixed bag. Most people believe this is supposed to represent planets (or planetoids) orbiting within range of each other. It also kind of looks like two people reaching alound a planet to hug each other. Or maybe they’re passing messages?
The logo primarily exists on Threads, Meta’s microblogging app, and is primarily used to indicate when a post has been shared to the Fediverse. Additionally, Flipboard also adopted the logo on their own platform, to represent something familiar to Threads users. Interestingly, Threads uses the symbol to represent when a post is shared, while Flipboard just uses it to represent the network.
The corporate Fediverse logo remains somewhat divisive. Proponents consider it to be a fresh take on visually representing the concept, and offers an easier, softer image for newcomers. Critics point out that it’s visually confusing, doesn’t really look like anything in a network, and bears a striking resemblance to an infamous Internet shock site from the early 2000’s. If you know, you know.
Fedi Origami
An alternate proposal for a Fediverse symbol, this origami design focuses on how diverse the network itself is. The project repo provides many different color variations, with the individual pieces coming together to create the letter F. The initiative was designed by a group of people who wanted to explore a very different design approach from what came before.
FediOrigami is still a relatively niche project in the space, but it’s clear that a lot of love went into designing it. It continues to have a small but dedicated following.
The Asterism
This logo is the latest proposal for the network, and it’s an interesting take. It repurposes an existing Unicode symbol, visually represents stars in a constellation, and is intended to be legible at all sizes.
This design emerged after a 2022 thread was posted by Liazion Wakest, who asked whether a suitable Unicode symbol could be used to represent the network. Raphaël Bastide proposed Unicode U+2042, and the rest is history.
Honorable Mentions
Outside of these efforts, there are a handful of individual symbol proposals made by varying community members. Click into the gallery below to learn about each.
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